Explore Sailing Voyages in Portugal 🇵🇹

Set off in NNW 12 kts but wind dropped to 6 kts and we dropped sails 2 hrs in. It was misty along the coast around Nazaré but cleared as we approached Peniche and the wind picked up to NNE 18 kts. We were running with 2 reefs in main and jib. By Cabo Raso we had 26 kts and 3 m seas and had to go to 3 reefs which was tough given the conditions. We need to look into single-line reef at least for reef 3 to make it easier and safer. About an hour later the wind had died down to 10 kts and we shook out the reefs and continued with full sail until we reached Sines. We motor sailed for a couple of hours before the wind picked up to 14 kts. Again a pod of dolphins came and played in our bow wave when we had 18 kts and were doing 6-7 kts.

We started out with little wind at 16:25 and motored for 2 hours roughly SW to catch some wind. At 18:45 we had NNE 10 kts and set the spinnaker. The wind was variable thereafter with us changing every few hours few hours between sailing (mostly with spinnaker), motor-sailing, and motoring. The seas were calm to moderate and we had some clear sky most of the time. The first night was spectacularly clear and for the first time I saw Uranus, easy to find with binoculars and just visible with the naked eye. There were plenty of meteors and satellites too. A large pod of dolphins came and played for a while on the first day and we had frequent revisits by smaller groups all through the voyage except when we were off the continental shelf. Off Viana we responded to a call from John on Alenbar (?) as they were receiving unwanted attention from a group of orcas. Alenbar lay silent in the water and after a while the orcas left with the boat unharmed. We arrived off Figueira da Foz before dawn so killed a couple of hours sailing out and back arriving at the marina at 9:55 local time.